System and method for object-oriented pattern matching in arbitrary data object streams

ABSTRACT

A system and method for applying extended regular expressions against arbitrary data objects, wherein a state machine maintains an internal state model for the system, an object analysis server receives data objects from a data source, and the object analysis server analyzes the structure and contents of the objects, compares them against received search pattern, and directs the state machine to update the state model based on either or both of the analysis and comparison operations.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Priority is claimed in the application data sheet to the followingpatents or patent applications, the entire written description of eachof which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety:

-   Ser. No. 16/214,620-   Ser. No. 16/160,763-   62/572,537

BACKGROUND Field of the Art

The disclosure relates to the field of information technology, and moreparticularly to the field of object-oriented pattern matching for dataobjects and their contents.

Discussion of the State of the Art

Regular expressions are commonly used to search for patterns in bodiesof text for rapid comparison, used in search engines and dataoperations. By expanding the principles of expression-based patternmatching to object-oriented data, efficient searching of object-baseddata types and their contents becomes possible, combining the benefitsof object-oriented data modeling and pattern-based searching.

What is needed, is a means to apply pattern-based search principles toobject-oriented data by maintaining a stateful search process thatcompares a search pattern against the contents and attributes of dataobjects, and that can be used to search against objects over time bymaintaining records of object changes.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, asystem and method for identifying patterns among data objects withinarbitrary streams of data objects. The system comprises a syntax, aparser, a compiler, and a state machine. The syntax allows a user todefine relationships between data objects, is used for building patternsof interest for the system to use in identifying patterns, and issimilar in structure to regular expression syntax in the field of textsearching. It differs from regular expressions, however, in that it isbeing used to identify patterns among data objects instead of patternsof text within a data object. The parser converts the pattern into anabstract syntax tree data structure which can be used to analyze,programmatically modify, and compile the pattern. The compiler convertsthe abstract syntax tree into state machine instructions. The statemachine follows the instructions to match objects containing elements ofthe pattern in a stream of arbitrary data objects. During operation, aseach object is received, it is analyzed to determine whether any of itsdata fields contain any element of a pattern of interest. If the objectdoes not contain an element of a pattern being searched for, the objectis discarded and the next object is retrieved. If the object contains anelement of a pattern, and there are no state machines (typically createdas processing threads) currently waiting for an object with thatelement, a new state machine is created with that object as the firstelement of the matching pattern. If the object contains an element of apattern being searched for, and there is an existing state machinewaiting for that element, the object is added to the existing statemachine as having a matching element, and the next object is retrievedfrom the data stream. When any state machine completes a patternmatching sequence, the identified pattern and sequence of objectsidentified as containing the pattern is stored or displayed.

According to a preferred embodiment, a system for object-orientedpattern matching in arbitrary data object streams, comprising: at leastone state machine comprising at least a plurality of programminginstructions stored in the memory of, and operating on at least oneprocessor of, a computing device, wherein the plurality of programminginstructions, when operating on the at least one processor, cause thecomputing device to: maintain an internal state model; and return aresult when a final state has been reached, the final state beingdetermined by the internal state model; and an object analysis servercomprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored inthe memory of, and operating on at least one processor of, a computingdevice, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, whenoperating on the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:receive a plurality of data objects from a data source; analyze at leasta portion of the data objects to determine at least their informationstructure and contents; receive a search pattern comprising at least oneelement; compare at least a portion of the data objects against at leastone pattern of the search pattern, the comparison operation comprisingat least the comparison of at least one element of a search patternagainst the contents of a data object; create a new instance of a statemachine when the comparison indicates that the object contains anelement associated with the start of a search pattern, and associatethat object with that state machine and the object's location in thesearch pattern for that state machine; update an instance of a statemachine when the comparison indicates that the object contains anelement associated with an element of a search pattern for which thatstate machine is waiting, and associate that object with that statemachine and the object's location in the search pattern for that statemachine; return the results of the operation of at least one statemachine.

According to a preferred embodiment, a method for object-orientedpattern matching in arbitrary data object streams, comprising the stepsof: maintaining an internal state model, using at least one statemachine; returning a result when a final state has been reached, thefinal state being determined by the internal state model, using at leastone state machine; receiving a plurality of data objects from a datasource, using an object analysis server; analyzing at least a portion ofthe data objects to determine at least their information structure andcontents, using an object analysis server; receiving a search patterncomprising at least one element, using an object analysis server;comparing at least a portion of the data objects against at least onepattern of the search pattern, the comparison operation comprising atleast the comparison of at least one element of a search pattern againstthe contents of a data object, using an object analysis server; creatinga new instance of a state machine when the comparison indicates that theobject contains an element associated with the start of a searchpattern, and associating that object with that state machine and theobject's location in the search pattern for that state machine, using anobject analysis server; updating an instance of a state machine when thecomparison indicates that the object contains an element associated withan element of a search pattern for which that state machine is waiting,and associate that object with that state machine and the object'slocation in the search pattern for that state machine, using an objectanalysis server; and returning the results of the operation of at leastone state machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawings illustrate several aspects and, together withthe description, serve to explain the principles of the inventionaccording to the aspects. It will be appreciated by one skilled in theart that the particular arrangements illustrated in the drawings aremerely exemplary, and are not to be considered as limiting of the scopeof the invention or the claims herein in any way.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecturefor identifying patterns among data objects within arbitrary streams ofdata objects, according to one aspect.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method foridentifying patterns among data objects within arbitrary streams of dataobjects, according to one aspect.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for applyingBoyer-Moore search algorithm in search data objects, according to oneaspect.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for updatingdata objects with client-provided update messages, according to oneaspect.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwarearchitecture of a computing device used in various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical architecturefor a client device, according to various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecturalarrangement of clients, servers, and external services, according tovarious embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 8 is another block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwarearchitecture of a computing device used in various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the setup of a simplified patternmatching example, according to an aspect of an embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 .

FIG. 11 is diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 .

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 .

FIG. 13 is diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 .

FIG. 14 is diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor has conceived, and reduced to practice, a system and methodfor identifying patterns among data objects within arbitrary streams ofdata objects. The system comprises a syntax, a parser, a compiler, and astate machine. The syntax is used for building patterns of interest forthe system to use in identifying patterns, and is similar in structureto regular expression syntax in the field of text searching. It differsfrom regular expressions, however, in that it is being used to identifypatterns among data objects instead of patterns of text within a dataobject.

One or more different aspects may be described in the presentapplication. Further, for one or more of the aspects described herein,numerous alternative arrangements may be described; it should beappreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only andare not limiting of the aspects contained herein or the claims presentedherein in any way. One or more of the arrangements may be widelyapplicable to numerous aspects, as may be readily apparent from thedisclosure. In general, arrangements are described in sufficient detailto enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of theinventions, and it should be appreciated that other arrangements may beutilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and otherchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the particularinventions. Particular features of one or more of the aspects describedherein may be described with reference to one or more particular aspectsor figures that form a part of the present disclosure, and in which areshown, by way of illustration, specific arrangements of one or more ofthe aspects. It should be appreciated, however, that such features arenot limited to usage in the one or more particular aspects or figureswith reference to which they are described. The present disclosure isneither a literal description of all arrangements of one or more of theaspects nor a listing of features of one or more of the aspects thatmust be present in all arrangements.

Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the titleof this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or morecommunication means or intermediaries, logical or physical.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Tothe contrary, a variety of optional components may be described toillustrate a wide variety of possible embodiments of one or more of theinventions and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects ofthe inventions. Similarly, although process steps, method steps,algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, suchprocesses, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work inalternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in thispatent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirementthat the steps be performed in that order. The steps of describedprocesses may be performed in any order practical. Further, some stepsmay be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied asoccurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described afterthe other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by itsdepiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process isexclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not implythat the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one ormore of the invention(s), and does not imply that the illustratedprocess is preferred. Also, steps are generally described once perembodiment, but this does not mean they must occur once, or that theymay only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm is carriedout or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some embodiments or someoccurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a givenembodiment or occurrence.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of asingle device or article. Similarly, where more than one device orarticle is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a singledevice or article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle.

The functionality or the features of a device may be alternativelyembodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly describedas having such functionality or features. Thus, other embodiments of oneor more of the inventions need not include the device itself.

Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimesbe described in singular form for clarity. However, it should beappreciated that particular embodiments may include multiple iterationsof a technique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless notedotherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should beunderstood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code whichinclude one or more executable instructions for implementing specificlogical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations areincluded within the scope of embodiments of the present invention inwhich, for example, functions may be executed out of order from thatshown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverseorder, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understoodby those having ordinary skill in the art.

Conceptual Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary system architecture100 for identifying patterns among data objects within arbitrary streamsof data objects, according to one aspect. A pattern-matching system 110may receive connections from a client 120 application via a network 101such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN), for example tosubmit a search query against a data object 112, which may be an objectreceived from a data stream, or retrieved from data storage such as in adatabase, or any other data object from an information source. Forexample, a client application 120 may be an administration applicationfor requesting or verifying data in an object database 112 or otherdatabase management tasks, or it may be (for example) any of a varietyof systems that may receive and process streaming data 112 for use, orany of a variety of contact center systems used in handling interactionevents such as (for example) an interactive voice response (IVR) systemin a contact center that may receive responses and input from a caller,or a customer relations management (CRM) application that handlescustomer account information and may provide updates to messaging server114 as changes are made to customer information (for example, when a newbill is generated, or contact information is updated, or account changesare made, or other such modifications), which may then be used to updatethe contents of objects in the database 112.

According to the aspect, a pattern-matching system 110 may comprise anobject analysis server 111 configured to receive data objects 112 asinput (for example, streaming events in a contact center such as eventsfrom a particular call) and analyze received data objects 112 todetermine their structure and contents, and then direct a state machine113 to maintain an internal state corresponding to the inputs received.This enables the use of state awareness to track data objects as theychange over time until arriving at a final state that may be returned asoutput. State machine 113 may utilize a nondeterministic finiteautomaton (NFA), such that with each input received the internal statemodel may remain the same, or it may change to one of any number ofpossible new states, and so on as input is received until a final inputis handled and the NFA arrives at the final output state. In the contextof pattern-matching, this may be used to receive object information asinputs, maintaining a stateful model that reflects the data containedwithin the objects and the status of a current match being performed, toprovide functionality necessary for matching multiple objects againstone another and maintaining awareness of partial matches, reaching afinal state when a complete match is found (or if no complete match canbe found, once the search is complete). For example, if a client 120submits a query for “Type=‘EventAbandoned’ and UserData.X=‘Y’] A[any]*[Type=‘EventQueued’ and ANI=A.ANI and A.Time−Time<300] B”, thiswould return all events such that A is an EventAbandoned with specificuser data and B is an EventQueued with an ANI that matches A andoccurring less than 5 minutes later. This requires examining multiplemessages and comparing them to one another, functionality that may beprovided by using an internal state model to track multiple objects atonce during operation.

Being a nondeterministic state machine (that is, one wherein the statemay remain the same through a state transition, rather than beingrequired to change to exactly one possible new state), analysis server111 may optionally use a Boyer-Moore string search algorithm to improveefficiency by using the internal state model of state machine 113 tosearch for partial matches and skip through information rather than byusing a “brute-force” comparison of every portion of data. Intraditional Boyer-Moore searching, a string pattern is preprocessedbefore comparison against a body of text, so that the pattern remains inmemory. To check for a match, the tail end of a string pattern ischecked against a selection of text and if the end of the pattern doesnot match and the text against which it is being compared does not occuranywhere in the pattern (this is usually performed on a letter-by-letterbasis, so if the letter in the text does not exist in the pattern) thenthe search may “skip ahead” by the length of the pattern to greatlyimprove efficiency without missing possible matches. In anobject-oriented context, a similar approach may be utilized wherein asearch pattern may be preloaded into memory, and then the data containedwithin the query (for example, if a search is being performed forspecific values for a variable X) may be used to determine whether anobject may be skipped. For example, if the current object does notcontain the variable X, then it may be skipped and the next objectloaded (rather than thoroughly examining the contents of the object forcomparison). This may be further enhanced with knowledge of object typesand their contents 112 (for example, the previous exemplary search maybe further economized by simply checking whether the current object'stype can contain the variable X, without even looking at its contentsyet).

A message server 114 may be utilized to receive event messages fromexternal systems operating as clients 120, for example (in a contactcenter usage context) to receive update messages regarding an ongoinginteraction with a customer. These messages may then be used to updatethe contents of data objects 112, and the updated objects may then beanalyzed by object analysis server 111 and provided to state machine 113for use as input, enabling matching of objects as they change inreal-time. Additionally, by combining event messages with the statefulinternal model provided by state machine 113, it becomes possible toexamine not only static objects but also objects over time, for examplethe progression of a call or other interaction in a contact center,either historically or as the interaction is ongoing, by tracking eventmessages at messaging server 114 and the corresponding object data 112,incorporating change-over-time into the state model of state machine 113to enable searching against an object or its contents at a particularpoint in time, or searching against patterns of object changes, such as(for example) searching for interactions that contain particularprogression patterns or to match specific causal relationships betweenevent updates and object changes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method 200 foridentifying patterns among data objects within arbitrary streams of dataobjects, according to one aspect. According to the aspect, a generalprocess for object-oriented pattern matching may involve examining thedata contained within software objects while maintaining an internalstate model reflecting the current state of a matching operation beingperformed. In an initial step 201, a client 120 may submit a querycomprising an expression describing a pattern of object data to matchagainst, the object data comprising a plurality of object contents (andtherefore optionally entire objects, by comprising their completecontents). In a next step 202, state machine 111 may retrieve aplurality of objects from an object database 112, based on the receivedinput, and may then 203 generate an initial internal state model at thebeginning of a matching operation. In next step 204, state machine 111may begin comparing object data from the retrieved plurality of objectsagainst the input query, optionally updating the internal state model205 as the operation progresses. If a final state is reached 206, thestate model is then checked to determine whether a match (or multiplematches) was found, returning the match result 207. If no match wasfound and the data was exhausted, the search returns a zero result 208.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method 300 forapplying Boyer-Moore search algorithm in search data objects, accordingto one aspect. As an initial step 301, a search query may be processedand saved to memory by system 110. Processing may involve, for example,processing the data to determine context in order to more efficientlysearch objects. For instance, it may be determined whether the searchquery is a variable, a string commonly used within certain contexts(such as entries for a call log), and the like. At step 302, a firstdata object may be loaded to search run the search query against. Atstep 303, the loaded object is checked by analysis server 111 todetermine whether the context and format of the data object is known. Ifcontext is known, at step 304, analysis server determines whether thatparticular object may contain the search query. If not, the object maybe skipped at step 305, and the search of the first object concludes atstep 306. If there are more data objects to search, a next data objectmay be loaded, and the search may proceed until there are no more dataobjects to load. If any matches are found, results may be displayed. Onthe other hand, if the object is likely to contain the search query atstep 304, a search may be conducted on the object using a Boyer-Mooresearch algorithm 307, and the search concludes at step 306. If there aremore data objects to search, a next data object may be loaded, and thesearch may proceed until there are no more data objects to load. If anymatches are found, results may be displayed.

Returning to step 304, if the format of the object is not known a searchmay be conducted on the object using a Boyer-Moore search algorithm, andthe search concludes at step 306. If there are more data objects tosearch, a next data object may be loaded, and the search may proceeduntil there are no more data objects to load. If any matches are found,results may be displayed.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method 400 forupdating data objects with client-provided update messages, according toone aspect. At an initial step 401, update messages may be received bymessage server 114 from client 120. For example, update messages maycomprise interactions from an ongoing call with a customer, and logs orother data objects may be updated in real-time as the call advances. Atstep 402, data objects may be updated based on the received updatemessages by system 110. At step 403, analysis server 111 may analyze theupdated data objects. At step 404, the updated data objects may then bemade available to state machine 113 to search through in real-time. Asdiscussed above (referring to FIG. 1 ), updated states may not be theonly available states which may be used in searches. Various metadatamay be made searchable as well, for example, how a data object changed,searching a data object at a particular point in time, searching forchanges made over time, and the like.

FIGS. 9-14 show an example of pattern matching using one possibleembodiment of the system in which there is a single data stream andmultiple state machines. It is assumed for purposes of this example thateach data object is read only once, and that a data handler assigns theobject to only one state machine that is waiting for an object with afield contained in the object. In other embodiments, there may exist asingle data stream and a single state machine which matches patternssequentially. In cases where there is interleaving or nesting ofpatterns in the data stream (for example, a pattern ABC with a datastream containing AAABBBCCC), a single data stream may be partitionedinto multiple data streams, and a single state machine may be assignedto each partitioned data stream. There are many possible variations andconfigurations of the system. The syntax used by the system allows auser to specify the relationships may take a variety of forms. In someembodiments, the syntax may allow for any combination of separations,substitutions, or unknowns (for example Kleene stars, also known asKleene operators), time components, or other relations among objects tobe defined. For example, if the pattern being sought is [A][B][C], thesystem would search for [A][B][C], with no intervening data objects. AKleene operator might be inserted, such as in [A][true][C] would findexactly one object of any type between objects matching predicates A andC, and [A][true]*[C] would find zero or more objects of any type Abetween objects matching predicates A and C. A person of ordinary skillin the art will be aware of a wide variety of relations that may bedefined for use in the syntax of the system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the setup of a simplified patternmatching example, according to an aspect of an embodiment. A sample dataobject 910 represents a data object which contains an object type, anddata fields, which is a well-known paradigm in computer science withentire programming languages using this paradigm in object-orientedprogramming (OOP). A given pattern of interest may be specified in thesystem, which may, for example, begin with analyzing any given objectstream for objects with the data field “Color=Purple” 920, beforebeginning to look for objects with “Height<5 m” 930 after 25 seconds oflooking for objects with a given color 920, before progressing furtherto a final pattern specification of “Weight<100 kg” 940, to matchobjects of a certain weight, after 60 seconds of receiving incomingobjects. A given object stream is visualized containing objects in astream such as a desk 950, a rabbit 960, a tree 970, a mobile phone 980,and a car 990, with the car being at the “head” of the stream, meaningit is the first object sent from the stream to the system to be matchedby a pattern of interest.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 . As shownin the diagram, a first state machine is created as the data field“Color: Purple” in a first data object, a car 990, matches the initialpattern element of “Color=Purple” 920 from the pattern of interest.

FIG. 11 is diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 . Afterfive seconds, a second state machine is created as the data field“Color: Purple” in a second data object, a mobile phone 980, matches theinitial pattern element of “Color=Purple” 920 from the pattern ofinterest.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 . Afteranother five seconds (totaling 10 seconds since objects beganstreaming), an object “Tree” 970, which does not match any element ofthe pattern of interest 920, is ignored by the system, neitherinstantiating a state machine for analysis nor adding the object to anexisting state machine.

FIG. 13 is diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 . Afteranother five seconds, totaling 15 seconds since objects began streaming,a data field “Height: 0.2 m” of the rabbit object 960 matches the secondelement of the pattern of interest “Height<5 m” 930 for which the firststate machine is waiting. The rabbit object 960 has arrived within the25 seconds specified from the first element 920 of the pattern ofinterest to the second element 930 of the pattern of interest, so therabbit object 960 is added to the first state machine, representing acontinuation of the pattern in the first state machine.

FIG. 14 is diagram illustrating a step of the pattern matching processfor the simplified pattern matching example setup from FIG. 9 . Afterfive seconds from the previous object sent, a desk object 950, matches athird pattern element “weigh<100 kg” 940 for which the first statemachine is waiting. The desk object 950 has arrived within the 60seconds specified from the second element 930 of the pattern of interestto the third element 940 of the pattern of interest, so the desk object950 is added to the first state machine, matching one instance of thepattern and completing the operation of the first state machine.

Hardware Architecture

Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented onhardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, theymay be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate userprocess, in a library package bound into network applications, on aspecially constructed machine, on an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card.

Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of the aspectsdisclosed herein may be implemented on a programmable network-residentmachine (which should be understood to include intermittently connectednetwork-aware machines) selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in memory. Such network devices may havemultiple network interfaces that may be configured or designed toutilize different types of network communication protocols. A generalarchitecture for some of these machines may be described herein in orderto illustrate one or more exemplary means by which a given unit offunctionality may be implemented. According to specific aspects, atleast some of the features or functionalities of the various aspectsdisclosed herein may be implemented on one or more general-purposecomputers associated with one or more networks, such as for example anend-user computer system, a client computer, a network server or otherserver system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tablet computing device,mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriate computingdevice), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or any othersuitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitable device, orany combination thereof. In at least some aspects, at least some of thefeatures or functionalities of the various aspects disclosed herein maybe implemented in one or more virtualized computing environments (e.g.,network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted on one or morephysical computing machines, or other appropriate virtual environments).

Referring now to FIG. 5 , there is shown a block diagram depicting anexemplary computing device 10 suitable for implementing at least aportion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computingdevice 10 may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listedin the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capableof executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to oneor more programs stored in memory. Computing device 10 may be configuredto communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such asclients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide areanetwork a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wirelessnetwork, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols forsuch communication, whether wireless or wired.

In one aspect, computing device 10 includes one or more centralprocessing units (CPU) 12, one or more interfaces 15, and one or morebusses 14 (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). Whenacting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU 12 maybe responsible for implementing specific functions associated with thefunctions of a specifically configured computing device or machine. Forexample, in at least one aspect, a computing device 10 may be configuredor designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU 12, localmemory 11 and/or remote memory 16, and interface(s) 15. In at least oneaspect, CPU 12 may be caused to perform one or more of the differenttypes of functions and/or operations under the control of softwaremodules or components, which for example, may include an operatingsystem and any appropriate applications software, drivers, and the like.

CPU 12 may include one or more processors 13 such as, for example, aprocessor from one of the Intel, ARM, Qualcomm, and AMD families ofmicroprocessors. In some aspects, processors 13 may include speciallydesigned hardware such as application-specific integrated circuits(ASICs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories(EEPROMs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and so forth, forcontrolling operations of computing device 10. In a particular aspect, alocal memory 11 (such as non-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/orread-only memory (ROM), including for example one or more levels ofcached memory) may also form part of CPU 12. However, there are manydifferent ways in which memory may be coupled to system 10. Memory 11may be used for a variety of purposes such as, for example, cachingand/or storing data, programming instructions, and the like. It shouldbe further appreciated that CPU 12 may be one of a variety ofsystem-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware that may include additionalhardware such as memory or graphics processing chips, such as a QUALCOMMSNAPDRAGON™ or SAMSUNG EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasingly commonin the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrated devices.

As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to thoseintegrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobileprocessor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller,a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, anapplication-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmablecircuit.

In one aspect, interfaces 15 are provided as network interface cards(NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of datapackets over a computer network; other types of interfaces 15 may forexample support other peripherals used with computing device 10. Amongthe interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relayinterfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces,graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types ofinterfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus(USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radiofrequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., usingnear-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fastEthernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) orexternal SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audiointerfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speedserial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces,fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, suchinterfaces 15 may include physical ports appropriate for communicationwith appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include anindependent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, asis common in the art for high-fidelity A/V hardware interfaces) and, insome instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM).

Although the system shown in FIG. 5 illustrates one specificarchitecture for a computing device 10 for implementing one or more ofthe aspects described herein, it is by no means the only devicearchitecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented. For example, architectures havingone or any number of processors 13 may be used, and such processors 13may be present in a single device or distributed among any number ofdevices. In one aspect, a single processor 13 handles communications aswell as routing computations, while in other aspects a separatededicated communications processor may be provided. In various aspects,different types of features or functionalities may be implemented in asystem according to the aspect that includes a client device (such as atablet device or smartphone running client software) and server systems(such as a server system described in more detail below).

Regardless of network device configuration, the system of an aspect mayemploy one or more memories or memory modules (such as, for example,remote memory block 16 and local memory 11) configured to store data,program instructions for the general-purpose network operations, orother information relating to the functionality of the aspects describedherein (or any combinations of the above). Program instructions maycontrol execution of or comprise an operating system and/or one or moreapplications, for example. Memory 16 or memories 11, 16 may also beconfigured to store data structures, configuration data, encryptiondata, historical system operations information, or any other specific orgeneric non-program information described herein.

Because such information and program instructions may be employed toimplement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least somenetwork device aspects may include nontransitory machine-readablestorage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed tostore program instructions, state information, and the like forperforming various operations described herein. Examples of suchnontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, andmagnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical mediasuch as optical disks, and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-onlymemory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices andintegrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storagedrives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard diskdrives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly commonin the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, randomaccess memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that suchstorage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardwaremodules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integratedinto an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappableflash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable mediadesigned for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices),“hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removableoptical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that suchintegral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably.Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as maybe produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by anassembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by forexample a JAVA™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtualmachine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may beexecuted by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scriptswritten in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language).

In some aspects, systems may be implemented on a standalone computingsystem. Referring now to FIG. 6 , there is shown a block diagramdepicting a typical exemplary architecture of one or more aspects orcomponents thereof on a standalone computing system. Computing device 20includes processors 21 that may run software that carry out one or morefunctions or applications of aspects, such as for example a clientapplication 24. Processors 21 may carry out computing instructions undercontrol of an operating system 22 such as, for example, a version ofMICROSOFT WINDOWS™ operating system, APPLE macOS™ or iOS™ operatingsystems, some variety of the Linux operating system, ANDROID™ operatingsystem, or the like. In many cases, one or more shared services 23 maybe operable in system 20, and may be useful for providing commonservices to client applications 24. Services 23 may for example beWINDOWS™ services, user-space common services in a Linux environment, orany other type of common service architecture used with operating system21. Input devices 28 may be of any type suitable for receiving userinput, including for example a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone (forexample, for voice input), mouse, touchpad, trackball, or anycombination thereof. Output devices 27 may be of any type suitable forproviding output to one or more users, whether remote or local to system20, and may include for example one or more screens for visual output,speakers, printers, or any combination thereof. Memory 25 may berandom-access memory having any structure and architecture known in theart, for use by processors 21, for example to run software. Storagedevices 26 may be any magnetic, optical, mechanical, memristor, orelectrical storage device for storage of data in digital form (such asthose described above, referring to FIG. 5 ). Examples of storagedevices 26 include flash memory, magnetic hard drive, CD-ROM, and/or thelike.

In some aspects, systems may be implemented on a distributed computingnetwork, such as one having any number of clients and/or servers.Referring now to FIG. 7 , there is shown a block diagram depicting anexemplary architecture 30 for implementing at least a portion of asystem according to one aspect on a distributed computing network.According to the aspect, any number of clients 33 may be provided. Eachclient 33 may run software for implementing client-side portions of asystem; clients may comprise a system 20 such as that illustrated inFIG. 6 . In addition, any number of servers 32 may be provided forhandling requests received from one or more clients 33. Clients 33 andservers 32 may communicate with one another via one or more electronicnetworks 31, which may be in various aspects any of the Internet, a widearea network, a mobile telephony network (such as CDMA or GSM cellularnetworks), a wireless network (such as WiFi, WiMAX, LTE, and so forth),or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in theart; the aspect does not prefer any one network topology over anyother). Networks 31 may be implemented using any known networkprotocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols.

In addition, in some aspects, servers 32 may call external services 37when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer to additionaldata concerning a particular call. Communications with external services37 may take place, for example, via one or more networks 31. In variousaspects, external services 37 may comprise web-enabled services orfunctionality related to or installed on the hardware device itself. Forexample, in one aspect where client applications 24 are implemented on asmartphone or other electronic device, client applications 24 may obtaininformation stored in a server system 32 in the cloud or on an externalservice 37 deployed on one or more of a particular enterprise's oruser's premises.

In some aspects, clients 33 or servers 32 (or both) may make use of oneor more specialized services or appliances that may be deployed locallyor remotely across one or more networks 31. For example, one or moredatabases 34 may be used or referred to by one or more aspects. Itshould be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art thatdatabases 34 may be arranged in a wide variety of architectures andusing a wide variety of data access and manipulation means. For example,in various aspects one or more databases 34 may comprise a relationaldatabase system using a structured query language (SQL), while othersmay comprise an alternative data storage technology such as thosereferred to in the art as “NoSQL” (for example, HADOOP CASSANDRA™,GOOGLE BIGTABLE™, and so forth). In some aspects, variant databasearchitectures such as column-oriented databases, in-memory databases,clustered databases, distributed databases, or even flat file datarepositories may be used according to the aspect. It will be appreciatedby one having ordinary skill in the art that any combination of known orfuture database technologies may be used as appropriate, unless aspecific database technology or a specific arrangement of components isspecified for a particular aspect described herein. Moreover, it shouldbe appreciated that the term “database” as used herein may refer to aphysical database machine, a cluster of machines acting as a singledatabase system, or a logical database within an overall databasemanagement system. Unless a specific meaning is specified for a givenuse of the term “database”, it should be construed to mean any of thesesenses of the word, all of which are understood as a plain meaning ofthe term “database” by those having ordinary skill in the art.

Similarly, some aspects may make use of one or more security systems 36and configuration systems 35. Security and configuration management arecommon information technology (IT) and web functions, and some amount ofeach are generally associated with any IT or web systems. It should beunderstood by one having ordinary skill in the art that anyconfiguration or security subsystems known in the art now or in thefuture may be used in conjunction with aspects without limitation,unless a specific security 36 or configuration system 35 or approach isspecifically required by the description of any specific aspect.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary overview of a computer system 40 as may beused in any of the various locations throughout the system. It isexemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Variousmodifications and changes may be made to computer system 40 withoutdeparting from the broader scope of the system and method disclosedherein. Central processor unit (CPU) 41 is connected to bus 42, to whichbus is also connected memory 43, nonvolatile memory 44, display 47,input/output (I/O) unit 48, and network interface card (NIC) 53. I/Ounit 48 may, typically, be connected to keyboard 49, pointing device 50,hard disk 52, and real-time clock 51. NIC 53 connects to network 54,which may be the Internet or a local network, which local network may ormay not have connections to the Internet. Also shown as part of system40 is power supply unit 45 connected, in this example, to a mainalternating current (AC) supply 46. Not shown are batteries that couldbe present, and many other devices and modifications that are well knownbut are not applicable to the specific novel functions of the currentsystem and method disclosed herein. It should be appreciated that someor all components illustrated may be combined, such as in variousintegrated applications, for example Qualcomm or Samsungsystem-on-a-chip (SOC) devices, or whenever it may be appropriate tocombine multiple capabilities or functions into a single hardware device(for instance, in mobile devices such as smartphones, video gameconsoles, in-vehicle computer systems such as navigation or multimediasystems in automobiles, or other integrated hardware devices).

In various aspects, functionality for implementing systems or methods ofvarious aspects may be distributed among any number of client and/orserver components. For example, various software modules may beimplemented for performing various functions in connection with thesystem of any particular aspect, and such modules may be variouslyimplemented to run on server and/or client components.

In some embodiments, data structures such as stacks or queues may beused instead of state machines. In some embodiments, the objectsidentified as matching patterns may be output as a larger object orobjects, an array or linked list of objects, or some other datastructure containing multiple objects or references to objects, all ofwhich may be called hyper-objects, super-objects, or some otherdesignation indicating that they are collections of objects that havematched certain patterns. In some embodiments, there will be a userinterface that will allow the user to easily define patterns, forexample, through the use of pre-defined templates, or by clicking anddragging relationship expressions in a graphical user interface. In someembodiments, the number of objects or patterns matched may be counted orcumulated in some fashion, and the results of the counting or cumulationmay be displayed in tabular or graphical form. In some embodiments, thesystem may comprise machine learning algorithms, such that the systemitself creates patterns to search based on certain areas of interestinput by a user or developed by the machine learning algorithms fromsets of training data.

The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications ofthe various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the presentinvention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for object-oriented pattern matching inarbitrary data object streams, comprising: at least one state machinecomprising at least a plurality of programming instructions stored inthe memory of, and operating on at least one processor of, a computingdevice, wherein the plurality of programming instructions, whenoperating on the at least one processor, cause the computing device to:maintain an internal state model; and return a result when a final statehas been reached, the final state being determined by the internal statemodel; and an object analysis server comprising at least a plurality ofprogramming instructions stored in the memory of, and operating on atleast one processor of, a computing device, wherein the plurality ofprogramming instructions, when operating on the at least one processor,cause the computing device to: receive a plurality of data objects froma data source; analyze at least a portion of the data objects todetermine at least their information structure and contents; receive asearch pattern comprising at least one element; compare at least aportion of the data objects against at least one pattern of the searchpattern, the comparison operation comprising at least the comparison ofat least one element of a search pattern against the contents of a dataobject; create a new instance of a state machine when the comparisonindicates that the object contains an element associated with the startof a search pattern, and associate that object with that state machineand the object's location in the search pattern for that state machine;update an instance of a state machine when the comparison indicates thatthe object contains an element associated with an element of a searchpattern for which that state machine is waiting, and associate thatobject with that state machine and the object's location in the searchpattern for that state machine; return the results of the operation ofat least one state machine.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the objectanalysis server is further configured to compare at least a portion ofthe search pattern against more than one data object at once.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the state machines are further capable ofreceiving data from an input stream.
 4. The system of claim 1, whereinthe object analysis server is further configured to utilize a modifiedBoyer-Moore search algorithm to skip at least a portion of a data objectbased at least in part on the outcome of a previous comparison.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising a message server comprising atleast a plurality of programming instructions stored in the memory of,and operating on at least one processor of, a computing device, whereinthe plurality of programming instructions, when operating on the atleast one processor, cause the computing device to receive at least anupdate message from a client application; wherein the system updatesdata objects on the data source based at least on the update message. 6.The system of claim 5, wherein updated data objects are searchable inreal-time.
 7. A method for object-oriented pattern matching in arbitrarydata object streams, comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality ofdata objects from a data source, using an object analysis server;analyzing at least a portion of the data objects to determine at leasttheir information structure and contents, using an object analysisserver; receiving a search pattern comprising at least one element,using an object analysis server; comparing at least a portion of thedata objects against at least one pattern of the search pattern, thecomparison operation comprising at least the comparison of at least oneelement of a search pattern against the contents of a data object, usingan object analysis server; creating a new instance of a state machinewhen the comparison indicates that the object contains an elementassociated with the start of a search pattern, and associating thatobject with that state machine and the object's location in the searchpattern for that state machine, using an object analysis server;updating an instance of a state machine when the comparison indicatesthat the object contains an element associated with an element of asearch pattern for which that state machine is waiting, and associatethat object with that state machine and the object's location in thesearch pattern for that state machine, using an object analysis server;and returning the results of the operation of at least one statemachine.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the object analysis server isfurther configured to compare at least a portion of the search patternagainst more than one data object at once.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the object analysis server is further configured to utilize amodified Boyer-Moore search algorithm to skip at least a portion of adata object based at least in part on the outcome of a previouscomparison.
 10. The method of claim 7, further comprising a messageserver comprising at least a plurality of programming instructionsstored in the memory of, and operating on at least one processor of, acomputing device, wherein the plurality of programming instructions,when operating on the at least one processor, cause the computing deviceto receive at least an update message from a client application; whereinthe system updates data objects on the data source based at least on theupdate message.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein updated data objectsare searchable in real-time.